A “blood moon” total lunar eclipse will be featured in a public event Oct. 8 at the UNL Student Observatory. The observatory, on the roof of the Stadium Parking Garage, 10th and T streets, will be open from 4:30 to 7:30 a.m. Oct. 8.

The event is free and open to the public. Visitors are advised that the observatory is unheated.

The “blood moon” will be seen in Lincoln in the predawn hours, starting at about 3:30 a.m., as the Earth passes between the sun and moon. The event will plunge the moon into nearly complete darkness and tint it red due to sunlight deflected by Earth’s atmosphere.

The eclipse will be visible, weather permitting, to anyone with an unobstructed view of the lower western sky. Eclipse totality will be achieved between 5:20 and 6:20 a.m.

The public event at the observatory will be led by faculty and staff from UNL’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Several telescopes will be available for viewing the lunar eclipse and Uranus.

The event will be canceled if the sky is overcast.

For more information, click here or contact Stephen Ducharme, professor of physics and astronomy, at sducharme1@unl.edu or 402-472-2770.

For additional information on the Oct. 8 lunar eclipse, click here.